Sam,
Before doing anything, work out what you want to do with your life. I'm not saying plan it to the minute, but work out why your job is dead-end, where you want to go and - the big one - what do you enjoy doing?
If you like "making money" and high-pay is all you want, go into finance. If you like playing with technology and reckon that doing that for the next couple of decades sounds good, do a CCNA as your first step into the IT industry. If you are looking for one cert that will give you a good job, you're going to need a CCIE .. which will make the CCNA look like falling off a log. There *is* good money in IT, once you've got a few years of experience and have some business skills. There is no magic bullet to the the six-figure paypacket tho.
Certs are part of the cycle - certs open doors to get experience to get better jobs to get more certs to open more doors etc etc etc.
Cisco certs are an excellent start because Cisco partners need certified people to get their discounts and undersell the competition. If this suits you, get your CCNA, then your CCDA, then start looking at the "qualified specialist" certs. Get a couple of design certs under your belt, then start calling up Cisco partners and getting them your resume.
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If you stick your head down and your bum up, you should be able to do it in 3-6 months. Not a bad investment for a new career.
Matt